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Kingston Council says the scheme will cost around £75,000 to be made permanent and should be completed by this winter.

Barry Goulding, from Esher, was another to be angered by the scheme.

More than 24,000 drivers were caught at this spot in six weeks in the early days (Image: Darren Pepe)

He said: "The restriction has no useful purpose other than bring in revenue for the council. The council claim that the restriction is there to improve the safety of cyclists and pedestrians and reduce traffic.

"Under the freedom of information reply, when I asked for details of each of the incidents taken into consideration to enable them to make their decision, they replied 'none'."

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Elmbridge councillor Christine Elmer has studied the documents accompanying the decision to make the scheme permanent.

She said: "The fact Kingston Council are considering further changes to the design of the road markings to make the closure clearer leads me to believe they knew all along it was badly signposted.

Kingston Council says there are adequate signs in the area (Image: The Royal Borough of Kingston Council)

"I still can not believe more than 45,000 people, including a large number of Elmbridge residents, deliberately choose to break the law to get a hefty fine."

Kingston Council says data recorded in February shows that traffic volumes have reduced by half - from 377 to 185 vehicles per hour - since the trial was introduced.

It added: "Most of the displaced traffic has re-assigned to Surbiton Road and the northernmost section of Maple Road, which as A and B roads are more suitable for through-traffic and continue to operate within capacity.